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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Falcons Spoil Central Michigan Senior Day With 3-2 Win
April 22, 2007 | Softball
April 22, 2007
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - Bowling Green took a 2-0 lead in the first, and despite a Central Michigan tie in the fifth inning, the Falcons turned their weekend around winning today's match over the Chippewa's 3-2 on the host's Senior Day. Bowling Green bounces back to 26-9 on the season and 9-5 in the MAC while Central falls to 16-17 on the season and 5-5 in conference.
"This team battled all weekend, but we could not find the right holes with our bats early on," said head coach Shannon Salsburg. "I am proud of the way the girls continued to play our game and walked away victorious today."
Bowling Green in fact regained their bats and out hit the Chip's 7-6 today.
From the rubber, junior Emily Gouge threw four hits and two strikes through four innings while sophomore Hayley Wiemer earned the win with two hits and five strikes in the remaining three innings. Central starter Ali Pettit was relieved in the first inning as a result of the Bowling Green two run lead on three hits. Jill DeRoche recorded one run on four hits in relief. She also tossed eight strikes in the effort.
Bowling Green jumped ahead of their host scoring runs by Jeanine Baca and Emmy Ramsey in the visitor's first plate appearance. After recording a lone hit in yesterday's defeat, Bowling Green scored two runs on four hits and saw hitters 1-8 in the line-up face both Central pitchers in the initial inning of the contest. Hayley Wiemer and Allison Vallas each picked up an RBI with similar base hits to centerfield. Additionally, four Falcons reached base before an out was earned by the Central defense. Bowling Green had as many as three runners on base at a single time.
BGSU took the scoring confidence into the defensive portion of the opening inning and retired two Chip batters within Emily Gouge's first three pitches. Bowling Green was back to familiar territory with the 2-0 lead after one full inning.
The Falcons found yet another hit in the top of the second, but it was Central that scored the run in the inning. Katie Horvath, the pinch runner for the lead-off batter, was driven in on Stephanie Crews line drive straight back at Gouge in the circle and the Falcon lead was cut to one with the 2-1 score after two rotations. Horvath's run was unearned due to Lindsey Calme's advancement to first on an error by the BG infield. The Chips left the inning with a run, a hit and a runner left on base.
Continued aggressive running by the Chips kept the Falcon defense on their toes in the bottom of the third. After being walked, Crews advanced as far as the hot corner by stealing second and further advancing on a wild pitch. Central could not convert Crews to the tying run as Amy Hudson's hit was fielded on the hop by Riepenhoff at second while Jacque Benedict's hit was gloved out on the pop-up. Bowling Green held the 2-1 at the end of three full innings.
Central tied the BGSU scoring effort at two runs in the bottom of the fourth as Kari Seddon drove in Calme from second on a double that hit the wall in left field. The scoreboard read 2-2 with an out and Seddon on second as Gouge then picked up the second out with a strike to Crews, the fourth batter of the inning. Kim Cozat then left Seddon at second as her connection on the pay off pitch was turned into a put out from Riepenhoff to Vallas.
In the top of the fifth, Baca led-off with a walk but was caught out at second and Ramsey took over the occupancy at first as a result of a fielder's choice. Neither Wiemer nor Vallas were able to move Ramsey from the spot and despite two runners reaching base, BGSU ended the inning without a run or a hit and the tie remained at 2-2.
Bowling Green took the lead back in the sixth as Brittnay Hay's RBI double down the left field line put the Falcons ahead scoring Dawnjene DeLong from first. Hay's slammer was a deep shot back to the outfield wall, but the sophomore was caught out between the catcher and third base as she tried to make it to the corner when DeLong made her way home. Bowling Green's 3-2 lead was taken as a result of a run and two hits in the sixth inning.
Central attempted a rally in the bottom of the sixth with Calme's standup double with only an out registered in the inning, but Wiemer, who entered the circle in the fifth, struck out the next two batters to finish the inning with three K's on four batters faced.
Lauren Hoffman began the final BGSU at bat with a strike followed by three straight balls. The 3-1 batters count quickly switched to a full 3-2 count on an outside pitch called as a strike. With nothing left to give on the count, Hoffman connected for an infield shot, but was out at first on the 5-3 putout. The following BGSU batters suffered the same fate and it was up to the BGSU defense to pick up the win on the road.
In the visitor's last chance at bat, Bowling Green outed the first batter as Hay's throw from third reached Vallas at first before the Crews could. Vallas then recorded the second out of the inning with an unassisted out at first and left Kaatz at bat with two out and no one on base. Kaatz reached first on a single but her efforts were fruitless when Giroux struck out swinging.
Bowling Green will take a break from MAC play and will travel to Ann Arbor on Wednesday afternoon for a single game against regional foe Michigan. The No. 9 Wolverines will toss the first pitch to the Falcons at 5:00 p.m.
